ITTA BENA, Miss. - Finishing their non-conference schedule on the road at Mississippi Valley State, the Centenary women’s basketball team fell 73-55 on Thursday afternoon.Tired arms and legs from playing four games in six days showed themselves early as the Ladies allowed the Delta Devilettes to run out to a 28-7 advantage with 8:25 remaining in the first half.

Down 21 points early and the home team getting the majority of favorable calls, as evidenced by a 7-0 Mississippi Valley foul count, Centenary would put together their own 6-0 run and hold Valley scoreless for six minutes in the process, pulling within 15 with four minutes to go.The Devilettes (4-3) would finish out the half on a 9-2 run to take a 22 point lead into the break.

Holli Wilkins led the Ladies with 15 points, joined in double figures by Laura Way with 13 and Brittany Barbee with 10.Junior Jelena Aleksic added eight points with a game-high seven rebounds off the bench.Barbee led the way with five assists and was joined by Aleksic and Wilkins with three steals each.

The beginning of the second half was decidedly in favor of the Ladies (1-10), sparking a 14-4 run to start the frame and pulling within 12 on a three pointer by Wilkins five minutes in.Centenary fared much better on offense in the second stanza, more than doubling their first half output of 15 to 40 and outscoring Mississippi Valley 40-36.

Unfortunately, the combination of a large double-digit deficit and the Devilettes hitting clutch shots down the end wouldn’t allow the Ladies to move within single figures.A three pointer by Barbee with 1:26 left to make it a 14 point ballgame would be the last points by Centenary.Mississippi Valley would tack on four extra points on free throws to end the game after the Ladies were forced to foul.

The Ladies take a short break for the winter holidays before returning to the road to start Mid-Continent Conference play against defending regular season champions Western Illinois.Game time is set for Dec. 31, with tip-off at 1 p.m.Play-by-play announcer Doug Greenwald will be on hand to call the action locally on KSYR 92.1 FM and online at www.SportsJuice.com.